Rings End Local Nature Reserve

Ring’s End Local Nature Reserve (LNR) is what known as a ‘post-industrial habitat’ where nature has reclaimed a site previously used, in this instance as a railway line. The railway line is part of the route that ran from Cambridge to Spalding before closing in 1967. Since then a wide range of habitats have developed on the 11 hectare site runs north-south from the village of Ring’s End to the Twenty Foot Drain. The main habitat type is a network of ponds, drains and reedbeds that were created as ‘borrow-pits’ when dug for material to build the railway embankment. A mosaic of long rough and short grassland and small areas of scrub have developed on the thin poor soils where the railway ballast remains. The main path through the reserve runs along the old railway embankment, allowing good views across the fen. This path forms part of the National Cycle Network Route 63.